The Avon Skin So Soft Experiment

We drove to our Christmas destination, Port Douglas, via Cairns for some lunch and eventually arrived in the late afternoon at our Port Douglas YHA. Those of you who saw the pictures I sent round before I went will be pleased to know that they had made the hostel pool look a lot nicer than it was in reality. However, this didn't put me off and I would still recommend this place to everyone. I was extra happy as they upgraded us to an ensuite room with enough space for 4 people. Luxury! It also had its own bar/bistro, the aforementioned swimming pool, as well as various other luxuries. We even had a fridge of our very own. It supposedly had internet, but this was quite rubbish. There was also a TV lounge, but this was consumed by an Aussie watching the cricket for much of our stay. Thankfully we weren't there for the TV or internet, so we got on and did some stuff.

The problem with Port Douglas is that it's nearly as far north as you can get - there's only a couple of other places above it on the East coast. Therefore, the heat was really on here. I would barely be able to move during the day, and at night time the Mozzies etc would come out and eat us. Initially it wasn't too bad for me, and we had our Avon Skin So Soft moisturising spray which we'd been told would help keep them away. Chris was skeptical, as was I. So one night we did an experiment where he applied the stuff and I didn't. Mistake. I guess no bug repellent is 100% effective, and I received several bites to the ankles and lower legs. Whilst Chris maintained his average one or two. Doh!

Because of the heat, our various ailments & the lead up to Christmas, we took it quite easy initially (like much of our holiday really). We wandered around the town and prepared for Christmas. By preparation I mean, we bought some food and attempted to get some Christmas gifts for each other (in each others presence) so that we could make a stocking. We also bought items for our Christmas lunch. The tradition in Australia seems to be ham, but our kitchen had limited supplies so we went for ingredients for a traditional... stir fry!

What was a bit weird about the hostel was that whilst most hostels had their staff living on site, this particular one didn't. After we'd stocked up on our stir fry ingredients, we headed to the bottle shop to get some sneaky tipples (you're not supposed to have them in the hostel as it's a licensed premise, but we figured we'd be ok as the liscensed part was shut over Christmas & there were no staff on site)!

Christmas eve came and went, and then Santa had delivered my stocking (in a Singapore Airline complimentary sock). Amazingly, I hadn't even noticed him come in. My stocking consisted of several chocolates (which I obviously had to eat quickly because of the heat) but sadly neither of us could find any Satsuma's! Chris' stocking was of similar quality & contents with a few less chocolates, a small bottle of beer and a banana (in lieu of the satsuma). Brilliant!

In addition to our stir fry, we'd also bought some sausages for a quick snack before our evening meal. We headed to the kitchen (which we had not visited properly since our arrival) and were horrified to discover that because there were no staff on site, no one had done their washing up properly and there were ants crawling all over the place. I don't have a big problem with ants in general, but Chris does. However, on this day I agreed with him - we had to clean all the kitchen sides before we could even contemplate opening food packets, let alone cooking our sausages.

We headed to the beach afterwards and were amazed by just how many people were there. It was just as you might expect, there were families there having their BBQs and playing various games on the beach. I saw one news report that said some people in Sydney had got to the beach at 2am in the morning to ensure they had reserved enough space for them & their family - now that's commitment! Chris and I took a dip in the stinger net enclosure before heading back to the hostel. If you're not familiar with these, stinger nets are just huge netted off areas of the beach which stop jelly fish getting in so you can swim in the lovely sea without getting stung. We heard a story that when they put these nets up, someone was shocked to discover a crocodile in the netted off area. Apparently the only reason the crocodile didn't attack the girl was because it was too tired after trying to escape the net all night. I'm not sure how true this is, but the idea of it kind of put me off initially! I soon changed my mind though and got in the sea which was soooo warm.

After our ant infestation at the hostel, we decided that maybe we wouldn't do the stir fry after all. We had arranged to meet Su (those of you not from Skandia, she works with me and lives the other side of the roundabout to me in Totton - we thought it would be wrong not to meet up when we were both on the other side of the world at the same time!) so Chris & I convinced her and Amy (her daughter) that they wanted to come out for dinner with us.

Amazingly we found a couple of places open, so we went for a Chinese meal followed by some

desserts at a different venue called Mango Jam. Mango Jam was pretty special as the desserts are a little different to what you might expect. For example, how does a banana pizza grab you?? Sound awful? I thought so too, but apparently it works! Not for me, I stuck with pancakes, but the sweet pizza combination wasn't as awful as I expected which was an odd surprise.

This Christmas was the first one that Chris & I had spent together, and whilst it was nice, it was good to catch up with Su & Amy because I think you need friends or family on Christmas day. I was sad to see a couple of people at our hostel on their own for Christmas. I don't think they spent it with anyone. Maybe they don't celebrate Christmas but it made me realise how grateful I am for friends and family. It also made me realise that perhaps I'm getting a bit more homesick this time round! I was touched when my nephew wished me a 'merry kisstmas' over the phone!

After Christmas, we booked ourselves a trip on the Kuranda scenic railway and another snorkelling expedition, this time to the Great Barrier Reef. Chris and I got to the train early the next morning and went up to Kuranda. This was a lovely quaint journey, with some great scenery around the hills/mountains. It did rain though which was a bit annoying as neither of us had remembered our emergency poncho! Still, it is supposedly the wet season and yet the main rain we'd heard had all been overnight.

Anyhow, in Kuranda, we met with Su & Amy again for lunch, before heading our seperate ways.

Chris and I got the Skyrail back down the mountain which takes you over lots of rainforest and past some waterfalls. I was stunned to see people jumping in and around the pools at the top of these waterfalls (the rain had cleared by then, but they were still very high). Unfortunately the heights that we'd been at all day had done Chris no good at all and his ear infection had returned in the other ear. We therefore had to cancel our snorkelling trip and Chris made himself a Drs appointment instead as we were flying the day after and wanted to make sure he'd be ok.

So our last day in Port Douglas ended up being quite quiet. We went to the beach and then

came home to start packing for our departure the next day. We got as far as cleaning the car, but then we decided to eat a final meal at the hostel's Bistro instead (it was 2-4-1, it would've been rude not to!) and then were met by Su, Amy and their friend Dean for a final drink.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time & Christmas in Port Douglas - thank you Chris, Su & Amy!